Scharfenberg, Cultural heritage islet in Berlin, Germany.
Scharfenberg is a small island in Lake Tegel in northern Berlin, fully surrounded by water and covered in dense woodland. The grounds include a school campus with historic buildings alongside stretches of natural shoreline.
The island takes its name from the von Scharfenberg family, who owned the land in the 16th century. It changed hands several times before being converted into a reform school in the early 20th century, a role it has kept ever since.
Scharfenberg is home to a boarding school where students and teachers live and study together on the island throughout the school year. This gives the place a rhythm that is unlike anything else in Berlin, somewhere between a school campus and a small village.
The island is not open to the general public since it functions as an active school campus. Those who want to see it from the outside can take a boat on Lake Tegel, which passes close to the shore.
The Gymnasium Scharfenberg is one of the very few schools in Germany where students actually live on school grounds full time, not just attend classes. This means the island has a permanent small community on it for most of the year.
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